Downtown Historic District back on front burner in Loveland

LOVELAND -- A plan to seek national recognition of Loveland's historic downtown has been brought back to life by the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

Earlier this month, the city submitted a grant application to the State Historical Fund. If awarded the $16,000 requested, the city would hire a consultant to carry out the research and prepare a National Register of Historic Places nomination application for Loveland's proposed Historic Downtown District.

"It would be a benefit to all of our community," said city planning technician Bethany Clark, who is the staff liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission. "Having a national historic district has been proven to be a success, you can see that in Fort Collins and Greeley."

Staff will likely not hear about the grant until August, and if it's awarded, Clark said the nomination process could start in summer 2014.

It is a long road and it's already been a long journey.

In 2007, the city applied for -- and was awarded -- a grant that had basically the same purpose as the one they're currently seeking. But when concerns at the staff level rose around the registry's possible interference with downtown streetscape projects, the grant was returned and the project was shelved.

It's been on the back burner ever since, Clark said.

"Downtown has remained a focus so we brought that forward again," she said. "It's been a big focus of our Historic Preservation Commission."

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The proposed historic district has changed slightly since the 2007 application and was redrafted with the help of the state historical society, History Colorado. Boundaries have been extended to include the Feed and Grain building on West Third Street and the light and power building on West Second Street, though nothing is set in stone. All affected property owners will have a say in the potential designation, and part of the consultant's work -- if the grant is awarded -- will be public outreach.

While all impacted property owners were in support of the potential historic district in 2007, business services coordinator Nikki Garshelis said there tend to be misconceptions about what it means to be included on the National Register, misconceptions that were apparent several years ago.

"If you get on the National Register, that doesn't mean there are any roadblocks to any kind of building," she said.

A main drive behind seeking the designation is for the city to have a slice of "heritage tourism," which brings in the overnight travelers who seek out cultural heritage activities as listed on the National Register's website.

"We think it will be a good benefit as an attraction to get more people downtown," Garshelis said.

For the property owners themselves, tax benefits, qualification for historic preservation funds and grants can also be tied to inclusion on the register.

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